Quick Trip To Phoenix 8/14-8/16

Quick Trip To Phoenix 8/14-8/16

So.....I am moving out to Surprise, AZ in a few weeks and had to come out to sign some paperwork and look at the house I will be renting. 2 days in the desert but I put in some work...on eating that is! Here are some pictures and brief descriptions below.

First stop in AZ is usually always Ted's Hot Dogs. They are my favorite. It is worth the 5 hour drive just to eat these things. I am doing a low carb diet and am doing pretty well (lost 40lbs so far), but I will break any diet for Ted's ;-). While eating there, I overheard a conversation 2 tables over. Turned out to be one of Teds granddaughters and the actual CEO of Teds. That is cool they come by the store to eat lunch and see how things are going! I got 3 tube steaks. An All Beef Dog up top, an Italian in the middle, and a Bratwurst on the bottom. All 3 were delicious. I am partial the the sausages though. They are fantastic!

I am relocating to Phoenix due to work. A bunch of my buddies are also headed out so that is a good thing. One of them was already out here so I picked him up and we decided to go to this place called Pork on a Fork. He had wanted to try it out and I had heard mixed reviews but wanted to see what it was all about. I had seen that they offer smoked chicken wings but only on certain days or if you pre order. I pre ordered a pound of them and got a 1/2lb brisket. The wings were plentiful (looks like they hooked me up and gave me more than a pound) and smoked proper. They were alright. Kind of plain though and could have used a little crisp/crunch somehow. The brisket was not that great. No real bark, tasted like pot roast IMO. I would not get it again. The wings, maybe......I was not that impressed with the place.

After the previous nights BBQ letdown, I decided to try out Little Miss BBQ. It had great reviews and looked legit. I always say that I don't like brisket and that is because I had never had PROPER brisket. That all changed today! This stuff was delicious! I ordered a Beef Rib (Only available Fri and Sat), 2 Pork Ribs, a Sausage and 1/4lb Fatty Brisket. Every single thing was legit. Great bark, perfect smoke etc. No sauce needed and I imagine this is what Central Texas BBQ will taste like (I am heading on a one week Texas tour next May). $37.00 for that plate of food just for myself is a tad expensive. It was that beef rib...probably weighed 1.3 lbs! I would skip the beef rib next time and get an extra pound of brisket. Service was awesome, the food was fantastic. Be prepared to wait though. I got there at 10:40 (They open at 11am) and there were still 15 people in front of me and it took until 11:30 before I was in the door ordering. Well worth it though! This was by far the best BBQ I have had out West. Nowhere even close except for maybe Bludsos in Compton but even that would definitely take a back seat to this stuff and isn't in the same league. I am glad I will be within a 30 min drive of this place!

For dinner, I decided to try Delux Burger. I had read about it and passed by numerous times in the past, but never stopped. Tonight I was going to get a burger, dammit! Once again, low carb diet was thrown out the door. The burger was perfect! Nieman Ranch beef cooked medium rare, onion/bacon jam, blue cheese and another all served on a baguette. One of the better burgers I have ever had. $12.00 for the burger but it was well worth it. If you weren't that hungry, you could split one with a friend. It was delicious!

For my last meal before I headed home, I had to hit up Ted's again. This time I ordered the United Nations of Sausages. Italian, Polish and Bratwurst ;-). I had their online coupon for free fries too. I got all these topped with mustard, onion and hot sauce. You can't get much better! I devoured those and then drove home to San Diego.

I am actually pretty excited to be moving to Arizona. Sure, the summers are HORRID, but the winters are perfect, you have Spring training baseball, houses are ridiculously affordable compared to SD and they have every kind of good food imaginable. And, if it gets too hot in the summer, I can always come back to SD and see friends and family and then write trip reports about San Diego ;-) lol. As always, thanks for reading my post and I hope you enjoy the pictures.

strongy78So.....I am moving out to Surprise, AZ in a few weeks and had to come out to sign some paperwork and look at the house I will be renting. 2 days in the desert but I put in some work...on eating that is! Here are some pictures and brief descriptions below

I didnt eat much in Pheonix, but I loved eating in Scottsdale. Its about 35-40 min away and they had some truly unique eateries and restaurants. I reviewed a couple on my blog 2for20bucks. Just search scottsdale. I am truly jealous. You will should enjoy living there. There are also some great places driving up through Sedona and Flagstaff if you get even more adventurous.

One of the family got tired of shoveling snow and came out here and opened up. He's an older white haired gentleman. I've tried to talk to him but he hustles around the place so fast that I never catch-up to him to get the story about how he decided on Tempe. Probably because of the close proximity to ASU. 70,000 students on campus!

I don't get to phoenix often but where I go eat is usually dictated by where my hotel is located. Across the street from my hotel downtown was this nice 1970's era looking bar steakhouse called Durant's. Not much to look at from the outside....BUT.......Incredible food and ambiance.

I love beef ribs...I looked up "Little Miss BBQ" on faceface They have great pictures of all of their food. It's definitely worth a look " /> Thanks for posting Strongy78 & good luck in Surprise, Arizona. Hopefully the surprises will be loads of delicious food finds

Good report, Strongy78. I was just in SD this last weekend, should have joined you for a "last meal" in SD! Well, I will have to wait until I get to AZ next-----looks like between Foodbme, Boyardee65, Acer2x and you, I'll definitely have to make a trip for some Ted's Old Miss and to meet the whole PHX food contingent!

strongy78Been awhile since I have jumped on here. Successful move to Surprise. I love the area (real quiet) and the house I am renting. Thanks for all the comments! I've been here since Thursday and have been to Teds 3 times. I love that place...absolutely love it! Cant get enough! Boyardee- I've driven by your place a few times and have been meaning to stop in. I actually just got one of your flyer things in the mail yesterday I believe. I will come sample some wings very soon. Davvud- Those are some good spots you hit up in Phoenix. Matts is on my list of places to try for breakfast. Thanks again for reading my short report. Now that I live here, I will have to post threads in the regular rooms instead of the trip reports ;-). Have a good one!

Welcome to the Valley!There's a weekly newspaper called "New Times" and it's free. Comes out on Wed or Thurs and you can find it in a wide variety of places and its loaded with food joints.http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/restaurants/Their "Best OF" list gives you a good pace to start.